Srinagar: Two Islamic militants and an Army jawan were killed and another jawan was injured in a gun battle raging in a remote village of Handwara area of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara since Friday morning.
Defence spokesman Lt. Col. N.N. Joshi said that three to four militants were trapped as the Army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles along with local police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and CRPF laid siege to Wadder Bala-Watsar Bhuvan area of Kupwara after receiving the information about their presence in nearby woods.
In the initial exchange of fire two militants and an Army jawan Nk Satish Kumar were killed, he said adding that the fighting was on as reports last came in. The spokesman also said that two AK assault rifles and one Under-barrel Grenade Launcher with ammunition and also five radio sets were found on the slain men whose identity is being ascertained. The injured soldier has been admitted to a nearby hospital, reports said.
Police sources said that security forces’ reinforcements have arrived in the area to join the final assault against the remaining holed up militants.
The clash comes a day after Army gunned down three heavily armed militants to foil an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in the State’s Poonch sector.
